Cutting Out a Different Path
by MsLane19
Summary: In which Mary Woodhull discovers her husband's extra-curricular activities, and things spiral from there. Awesome ladies takin care of their spy husbands and gettin shit done.


**A/N: I do not own Turn, it is owned by AMC. I do not own the historical figures in this fic, I'd say they own themselves but their dead so I guess their descendants own them. For bagginses-ofbagend and batsonthebrain on tumblr**

* * *

Her husband has been seen visiting his former sweetheart more times in recent days than is considered proper, another woman might cast her eyes away and ignore the whispers in the comfort of her home, but though Mary is a proper wife, she has never been the sort of woman to sit idly by and let fate determine her life. Abraham knew that when he asked her to marry him, he should not be surprised that nothing had changed.

When Abraham leaves and heads out towards the woods, she hands Sprout over to the mammy, grabs her shawl and heads out after him. She has no intentions of causing a scene, but she'll not stand by and watch as her husband shames her in front of the town.

Anna Strong is waiting in the clearing, and though Mary had steeled herself for whatever sight she might encounter, her heart still drops into her stomach. But the words that her husband says are a surprise, and she remains hidden behind a cluster of trees to listen.

"A red petticoat and four handkerchiefs. Place them on the line tomorrow. Caleb will know where and when it means."

"Will you ask him? If Simcoe is still alive? Why didn't they kill him? He promised us they would!" Anna looked to be greatly distressed over the prospect of the Captain still being alive, not that Mary would blame her. The regular stationed in the Woodhull home was a sweet young man, if a bit of a slob, she didn't mind his presence too much. She wouldn't be able to say the same if he were a man like Simcoe.

"We don't know that they didn't, they may have hidden the body to place suspicion on him and away from us." Abraham placed a reassuring hand on Anna's shoulder. "When Rogers was here, he made it sound as though Simcoe's disappearance made him a suspect, perhaps Ben knew that would happen!"

"But if he's still alive? If he escapes and comes back here? He'll know that Ben and Caleb are from Setauket, he'll be suspicious that someone from Setauket is spying, and he already suspects you."

Mary suddenly felt very cold.

Abraham frowned, "I'll speak to Caleb about it, but we have to trust that he and Ben will protect our identities."

Anna closed her eyes and nodded. "I'll place the clothes on the line in the morning." She said, and then turned and walked away.

Mary watched as her husband sat down on a log, leaned his head back and breathed. He looked nervous, frightened even, she could tell that his reassurances to Anna about Simcoe's possible return were hollow. He didn't know what was going to happen.

Her husband was spying for the Continental army, and Anna Strong was helping him, that much she was sure of, and the thought sent a spike of red, hot fury through her. What in the name of heaven was he thinking?

"What are you doing?" Her voice sounded strangely cold in her ears, but she couldn't bring herself to care, she was too angry.

Abraham started and paled at the sight of her, "Mary…it's not… how long were you… it's not what you think!"

"I think that my husband and Anna Strong are spying for the enemy. Am I wrong?"

He was silent a moment before replying. "Mary, why are you here?"

"Because I wanted to know! And nothing that I had imagined compares to this, I never imagined you of all people would do something so stupid!"

"I never imagined it either." Abraham sighed.

Mary closed her eyes for a moment before sitting down beside him. "Just…tell me this will be the last time. Whatever you do tomorrow, tell me it'll be the last time."

"No."

She turned and looked at him.

"I can't, Mary. This…I can't explain it, but this is what I'm going to do. This is the side I'm on."

She wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, Mary Smith had been raised to believe that politics and war were the theater of men, though a part of her had always raged at the thought of being expected to look the other way concerning things that had the potential to shake her world just as much as her husband's, but she had also been taught to be loyal to her king. Still, it wasn't the politics that bothered her, it was his method of showing, or rather, not showing, his true loyalties.

"Then, if you must choose this side, join the Continental army, at least if you are caught you won't be killed! Abraham, they'll hang you for this! Think of our son!"

"This what they need me to do Mary. They need intelligence. I'm in a position to give it to them." Abraham sighed and took her hand, "I promise, I'll be careful. It'll be all right."

She wished she could believe him when he said those words, but how could she when he obviously didn't believe them himself?

* * *

She doesn't acknowledge him when he kisses her on the cheek before leaving the next day.

He pretends that everything is still the way it was, and she doesn't really know what he's doing.

They don't speak of it again until the night they return from having dinner at his father's house with Major Hewlett and the new Captain and his wife.

* * *

They walk through the door, and Abraham is already shucking off his dinner jacket and reaching for his coat.

"Wait." She says, places a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Mary," He begins, "I have to do this…"

"I know, it's not that." She's frowning at him. " People have already noticed you speaking to Anna more than is proper. They're whispering about a… an indiscretion now, but if people are watching, if they are noticing, what's to stop someone noticing how Anna's laundry always seems to have particular pattern to it after you leave?"

Abraham looks away, the firelight catching in his eyes. "A signal can be detected…" He mutters.

"Exactly!" Mary says emphatically, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Let me go."

"What!? No! No, definitely not!"

"Abraham…"

"It's out of the question, no."

"Abraham, listen to me…" She leads him over to the chair by the fire and sits down. "I can go to visit Anna, soon the talk will die down and they will say that we are just being neighbors, ensuring that she is alright now that her husband is gone. I will visit her, I will carry your messages to her, and then people will stop watching. A connection cannot be made if no one is looking for it!"

Abraham looks at her with so much fear in his eyes, she wonders that he ever became a spy at all. She loves her husband, he is good and kind, a gentle soul, but though he has determination and strength of character, he was not made for this.

"I just don't want you to get hurt… it's dangerous, Mary."

She smiles and takes his hand. "It'll be alright. Trust me."

* * *

"Mrs. Woodhull….I wasn't expecting you."

Anna looks surprised, her arms full of laundry. She hands her load off to a boy, wipes her hands down her skirt, and leads Mary into the house.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your work, Mrs. Strong. I've been meaning to come and see how you were faring, I know Abraham has been checking in on you, but I thought I should come myself." Mary kept her voice as calm and pleasant as possible, but Anna still started as though she'd been pinched.

"Yes, well," The other woman looked uncomfortable, "Thank you. I am well. It's difficult at times, but I am managing."

Mary smiled, "Good, I'm pleased to hear it. I brought you some preserves, I know you have had little time for making your own. I thought you might need some."

"Oh yes, thank you." Anna took the jar from her and handed it to the serving girl. "Take this to the kitchen please, Sarah. That was most kind of you, Mrs. Woodhull."

"Not at all."

Mary waited until she was sure the girl was gone and they were alone before stepping closer. "We need you to place a black petticoat on the line today." She said, softly.

If Anna had still been holding the jar of preserves, she most likely would have dropped them.

"You?" She whispered.

"Yes," Mary said quickly, then louder, "I have some errands to run, so I'll take my leave now. It was a pleasure to see you Mrs. Strong."

"Wait!" Anna hissed. She looked around, then continued, "A black petticoat? No handkerchiefs?"

Mary nodded, "That is what he said."

Anna smiled. "Thank you for coming Mrs. Woodhull. It was a pleasure, allow me to see you to the door."

* * *

"So, I assume this one isn't a social visit?" Anna said archly as she poured Mary a second cup of tea.

Mary had taken to stopping by for tea after that first visit, lately she had taken to bringing Eliza Carter along with her. The young wife of Captain Simcoe's replacement was practically starved for female companionship, and it was interesting, the sort of things one could learn while having tea with an officer's wife.

However, today she had come alone.

"I'm afraid so, we'll need you to place a blue petticoat on the line tomorrow. You do have one, don't you?"

Anna laughed, "Fortunately, yes. I wonder what'll happen if one of these days I don't have the right color!"

"I suppose Abraham will just have to work with what you have." Mary giggled in response.

Once their laughter had died down, Anna turned and retrieved a letter from her desk.

"I hope you don't mind, but I need to ask a favor from you."

Mary set her cup down gently, "Of course, what is it."

"I've received word, from Selah's cousin. They were able to ransom him and get him off the prison ship, but Selah didn't feel that he could come home, because of what happened after, and so…. He's joined the Continental Army." Anna leaned foreward, her beautiful, dark eyes were quite distressed. Mary could only imagine how she must feel. Having gone for months with no word and then suddenly to find that her husband was free but had chosen not to return home to her.

"Jedidiah, his cousin, he didn't know where he was, just that he was stationed with Washington's regiment in Connecticut. I was hoping, well, when Abraham goes tomorrow, if he could give this letter to Caleb and ask him to find a way to get it to Selah for me?"

Mary took the letter from her hand and placed it in her bag. "Of course. It's the least we can do, Anna."

When she tells Abraham, he doesn't protest, only nods and tells her to put it in his coat pocket so he does not forget.

* * *

It's the last minute, Abraham is grabbing his coat to leave to meet Caleb, when Richard comes to get him.

Something's happened with Robeson and there is a Queen's Ranger waiting with Major Hewlett. Abraham runs upstairs to change his jacket and she follows.

"Write down whatever it is you had to tell him, I'll go."

"What? No, I can't do that. If they catch you, they'll know for sure you're a spy. I can't let you do that."

"And we can't keep him waiting." She helps him slide on his coat, removing Anna's letter from his pocket and placing it in her own as she does so. "Write it down."

He scribbles as fast as he can and then hands the paper to her. "Hide it somewhere safe" He says, and then adds with a small grin, "Don't be too nervous of Caleb. He looks rougher than he really is."

She rolls the paper up and then slides it into her hair under her bonnet. "Go on, your father's waiting."

Richard is holding Sprout when they come down, he stands up from his seat and passes him off to Mary. "Are you ready, son?"

"Yes, let's go." Abraham kisses her on the cheek and then rushes out the door.

Mary looks down at her son. "So, I think…you and I…shall…go berry picking, hmm? How does that sound? Like a good excuse to be wandering about in the woods? I hope so…

* * *

She walks down to the piece of shore where Abe was supposed to meet his friend, a baby in one arm and a basket on the other. Surely, she is the picture of innocent motherhood. At least, she hopes she is.

She sees the small boat already anchored, and she knows that Caleb Brewster is already there, waiting and watching. She sets her basket down, takes out a blanket which she lays across the ground before setting Sprout down on it. When she straitens up, she nervously brushes her hands down the skirt of her dress and looks around. When he still does not appear, she clears her throat and says, "My name is Mary Woodhull, I'm Abraham's wife. Something happened in town, I came in his place."

She waits another breathless moment, and then a rough, scraggly looking man appears from behind a rock.

"So you're the lass Ol' Woody married, huh? I guess that makes this little lad, mini-Woody. Pleased to meet you both, I'm Caleb."

He moves to kneel beside Sprout on the blanket, producing a little carving of a horse and a wooden whistle out of the depths of his coat. She watches him play with her son a moment before settling herself down on the blanket beside them.

"So," He begins. "Now that we're all settled in, what news do you bring?"

She reaches up inside her bonnet and produces the note her husband had given her. Caleb takes it from her with raised eyebrows, but doesn't say a word, he simply scans the note and then places it in his coat.

"Tell Abe, thanks, and next time I'll bring the both of you something special from across the way, yeah?"

"Wait a moment," She says. "Please."

Caleb glances up at her from where he's messing about with the ropes. "Something else you got to say?"

"Selah Strong, Anna's husband." She begins.

"What about him?" He asks, turning his attention back to his work.

"He was freed, about two months ago, and the only word Anna has had is that he joined the Continental army and is somewhere in Connecticut. She was hoping," here she retrieved the letter from her pocket, "that you or Mr. Tallmadge might be of some assistance in getting this letter to him."

Caleb takes the letter from her hands. "Aye, we'll see what we can do. Abe had mentioned that you and Anna were becoming fast friends."

"Did he?"

"Mm hmm, also said that might have somethin' to do with how he was finding out about the troop movements. Something about the two of you befriending an officer's wife?" He said, giving her a sly grin.

Mary shrugs and bends down to confiscate the leaf her son was trying to put in his mouth. "She is lonely and enjoys gossiping. When she confides in us we listen. She just happens to tell us all about where her husband and his men are going, that's all."

"Indeed, well her little confidence about her husband sending a troop a men to Vermont was very helpful."

"So I heard."

Caleb laughs, "I like you, Mrs. Woodhull. Tell Anna, Ben and I will make sure her husband is taken care of."

She watches him sail away from the shore, Sprout waving to him from the safety of her arms. She thinks Abraham was right, Caleb Brewster is not so rough at all.

* * *

A few weeks later, Abraham has some business in town, she decides to pay a call on Eliza. When she is finished, she goes looking for Abe, only to find him cornered by Major Hewlett and two Lieutenants.

"Mr. Woodhull," Major Hewlett is saying. "I understand that you were probably not trying to do anything wrong, but this is the fourth time you've been seen, what was the word you used Lieutenant? Ah, yes, 'skulking' around the encampment and so I must ask, what are you doing here?"

Abraham is so obviously at a loss for words, it is painful.

"Abraham, darling, did you get lost again? My apologies Major Hewlett, my husband was looking for me, but for some reason," here she made a show of waving her hands about in an exasperated manner, "He is constantly getting lost trying to find the Carter's quarters. I keep telling him, they're staying at the old parsonage, but he can never remember."

Thankfully, Abraham seemed to catch on quickly, making just as big of a to do about his forgetfulness and terrible sense of direction, "It's the reason I'm a farmer and not a sailor, sir", as she had.

Major Hewlett smiled indulgently and suggested to Mary that, perhaps next time, she should draw her husband a map, before letting them go.

Once they were on the road and well on the way back to their home, Mary finally let herself speak. "Abraham, what was that? What did you do?"

In response, he reached into his coat and pulled out what looked to be a letter.

"Abraham…" She gasped, "Did you –"

"I copied it. It details the plans for an attack on… anyway, it's important."

"Abraham, it's the middle of the day, anyone could have walked in on you!"

"I know, Mary. I wouldn't have done it, but I didn't think I'd get another chance." He flicked the reigns, eyes focused straight ahead.

"I understand that but, Abraham, if you get caught…"

"I know."

They don't speak for the rest of the drive home, but Mary whispers a thanks God that she arrived when she did.

* * *

The next day, Mary stands at the window and watches as Abraham goes out to meet Caleb, the precious letter kept safe in his shirt. She doesn't know how they got to this place, but somehow their family's fate was tied to the fate of this brand new country. She looks back at her son and wonders what kind of future he will see. She hopes that, whatever happens, her family will remain safe.


End file.
